Keith Richards has opened up about his reverence for classic country guitarist Scotty Moore.

Throughout his career with Elvis, Moore helped define the fusion of rock, blues and country and recently passed away at the age of 84.

"Scotty Moore was my hero. There's a little jazz in his playing, some great country licks and a strong grounding in blues as well.

It's never been duplicated. I can't copy it. The closest I came was tracks like "Parachute Woman," where I fooled around with echoes - those early Elvis recordings got me interested in the possibility of the studio.

The first one I got had some of the Sun stuff: "Baby Let's Play House," "Milkcow Blues Boogie."

He added, "Elvis would not have been Elvis without Scotty Moore.

When I was a kid, after the BBC would shut off, another station would come on, called Radio Luxembourg.

It had terrible reception - I'd be carrying my radio all around my room. That's how I heard "Heartbreak Hotel."

I was an acoustic player, lurking in the folk area. But that's when I knew I wanted to go electric."